Scan barcode
A review by hank
Alliance Space by C.J. Cherryh
4.0
I never know how to review ominbus books. Merchanter's Luck was probably a 3.5 rounded down, a good, albeit, mundane story about a down on his luck space merchant trying to scrape by. It was fine.
40,000 in Gehenna was a solid 4 star. Definitely different than other colonization stories that I have read. At the beginning, I kept drawing parallels with the Azi to another book I read recently, Just City. In Just City there were machines trying to become and get recognition for sentience. The Azi seemed exactly opposite. They were humans trying desperately to have born men make all the decisions for them. I am not sure how Azi personality and genetics contributed to the later part of the novel but that is probably something I missed, not something that isn't there.
The Calibans were fascinating and the whole novel for me was trying to figure out their place in society and motivations. I would say nothing was fully explained by the end but enough to let the mind wander. The Weirds/Riders/Caliban society that Cherryh set up is truly unique and interesting to spend time in.
My 1 to 1.5 star docking is due to Cherryh's writing style. I can only describe it as brusque. It is very direct with much left to read between the lines and I am not a huge fan of it. Cormac McCarthy seems to be able to pare down his words and still let the language flow. The flow of this is like teaching a teenager to drive a manual car.
I own Cyteen but am not excited to read it. All three of the books I have read by Cherryh have been imaginative but harder to get through.
40,000 in Gehenna was a solid 4 star. Definitely different than other colonization stories that I have read. At the beginning, I kept drawing parallels with the Azi to another book I read recently, Just City. In Just City there were machines trying to become and get recognition for sentience. The Azi seemed exactly opposite. They were humans trying desperately to have born men make all the decisions for them. I am not sure how Azi personality and genetics contributed to the later part of the novel but that is probably something I missed, not something that isn't there.
The Calibans were fascinating and the whole novel for me was trying to figure out their place in society and motivations. I would say nothing was fully explained by the end but enough to let the mind wander. The Weirds/Riders/Caliban society that Cherryh set up is truly unique and interesting to spend time in.
My 1 to 1.5 star docking is due to Cherryh's writing style. I can only describe it as brusque. It is very direct with much left to read between the lines and I am not a huge fan of it. Cormac McCarthy seems to be able to pare down his words and still let the language flow. The flow of this is like teaching a teenager to drive a manual car.
I own Cyteen but am not excited to read it. All three of the books I have read by Cherryh have been imaginative but harder to get through.